Highlights:
- An operations manager oversees the day-to-day operations of your employees and will manage their workflow for increased productivity and efficiency.
- If you want to hire an operations manager for a small business, you’ll want to: know why an operations manager is necessary, create a detailed job description, and analyze their work history and experience level in order to determine if they are a good fit.
Every role comes with unique hiring challenges, and an operations manager for a small business is no different. Operations managers are often a key role to fill for a company sheerly because of the management responsibilities that they’ll have. Your business’s performance is often tied to your operations manager. This means there’s a lot of pressure for your new hire to be a good fit.
In this post, we’ll define what an operations manager does and the benefits of employing one. Next, we’ll review some hiring tips that will make finding a good operational manager easier. Lastly, we’ll answer a few frequently asked questions about hiring operations managers.
In this post:
- What does an operations manager do?
- The benefits of an operations manager
- How to hire an operations manager for a small business
- FAQ for finding an operations manager
What does an operations manager do?
An operations manager manages the daily workflow of your businesses.
Operations managers are responsible for:
- Budget. From managing the budget and other limited resources, an operations manager comes up with a spending plan and determines what is worth investing in for maximum returns.
- Productivity. From scheduling the workflow to creating internal teams, the operations manager takes your other employees, measures their strengths and weaknesses, and puts them in a position to succeed.
- Employees. An operations manager often manages employees on an individual basis, making sure they are growing within their skill set at a company. Operations managers will make sure employees get all relevant training and instructions.
The benefits of an operations manager
When you have the right plan, an operations manager is essential for most businesses.They streamline most processes at a workplace and help ensure that other employees reach maximum productivity.
A good operations manager will:
- Save you money.
- Save you time.
- Increase employee productivity.
- Increase employee satisfaction and retention.
- Allow you to manage risks.
How to hire an operations manager for a small business
As we’ve reviewed, if you’re looking for an operations manager, then they are going to be one of the most important hires for your business. You’ll want to make sure that you avoid common mistakes and do everything possible to find an operations manager who is a great fit for your team.
1. Know why you need an operations manager
We’ve gone over what an operations manager does and why they’re beneficial, but do you know what they will do for your specific business?
Operations managers are the perfect hire for:
- Teams that need guidance, focus, and organization.
- Growing teams and expanding businesses.
- Business owners who don’t have time to oversee daily operations.
- Businesses looking to kickstart high-priority initiatives and strategies.
- Companies who need help managing vendor and supplier relationships.
- Teams with multiple instances of communication failures.
- Business owners who need better collaboration between teams.
Knowing your specific and unique pain points will help you know who will be a good fit for your team. You can use this information to better inform your job description.
2. Create a detailed job description
One of the biggest mistakes we see when hiring for a critical role is that the job description is lacking crucial details and qualification requirements. Every business is unique, which makes the requirements for an operations manager unique. However, there are some must haves when creating a good job description.
You’ll want your job description to include the following for an operations manager:
- Oversee day-to-day operations to ensure efficiency and smooth workflows
- Lead, develop, and motivate high-performing teams.
- Manage budgets and implement cost-control initiatives.
- Develop, implement, and improve operational processes and role-specific best practices.
- Monitor KPIs, analyze data, and report on performance to leadership.
- Collaborate and coordinate with other teams and clients.
3. Analyze relevant experience
When figuring out whether your potential hire is a good fit for the role, you’re going to want to pay close attention to their previous experience and the challenges they faced. Let’s make sure that you ask the right questions.
The following will make your candidate a great hire:
- Industry specific experience. Industry specific experience is a big must for operations managers. They can only rally your team and drive them toward increased productivity and efficiency if they know how your industry works. If they’re figuring things out as they go along, then that will slow down your team’s workflow, which is the exact opposite of what you’re hiring them for in the first place.
- Leadership qualities. You want your new operations manager to be inspiring. Good communication skills are a given, but you want your ideal operations manager to be uplifting and energetic. A strong personality is a good thing.
- Project management. This is a back-to-the-basics requirement that is probably your bread and butter requirement, but it’s not one to overlook. Project management experience is a must, and you’re ideal operations manager should be able to recount multiple examples of prior experience.
- Passion for learning. A good operations manager is on top of all of the latest developments in their industry of choice. No industry is completely static; there are always new technologies, shifts in the market, and societal developments that need to be taken into account at all times. Make sure your prospective hire has a pulse not only on the current state of your specific industry, but on where your industry is heading within the next decade.
FAQ for finding an operations manager
How much is an operations manager paid?
An operations manager’s salary is highly variable depending on the location, industry, and experience required for the role. An operations manager is paid between $60,000 and $150,000. That’s quite a wide range. We recommend paying attention to those three categories that we just mentioned: location, industry, and experience level in order to determine what a fair starting salary is. Remember, the operations manager is going to be one of the most important members of your team.
Is an operations manager in charge of hiring?
In many cases, an operations manager is in charge of hiring. If they aren’t in charge of hiring, they should at least be able to review potential candidates and help make a final decisions. Remember, the operations manager knows their team better than anyone. This makes them highly qualified to determine whether someone is a good fit and will add to overall productivity.
